4 BATTENS AND HIGH-END CONTROL?

Or how to achieve a reasonable wind range on a 4 batten sail?

The secret is to generate the ideal balance between elasticity and stability. For a better understanding here comes a little sail theory. The following factors make for stability (resulting in greater wind range) in a rig:

> 01 Amount of battens: the more battens, the more control you get but the stiffer and heavier the rig becomes

> 02 Mast geometry: SDM-masts are stiffer but also less elastic than RDM masts

> 03 Mast length: the shorter the mast, the softer it is

With the trend of manoeuvre sails away from SDM- towards RDM-masts the sails have become much more elastic but also less stable.

Reducing the amount of battens further increases the elasticity.

Now if you also try to reduce the luff length as much as possible (= shortest + softest possible mast) the overall structure simply becomes too soft.

The result is a super elastic rig that feels nice just in the ideal wind range but simply collapses when powered up.

Exactly here we have focused when developing the HERO and the new IDOL. Instead of following the trend towards the shortest possible luff length, risking loss of wind range Kai has worked with his proven BALANCED.LUFF.LENGTH concept:

As short as possible for most radical throwability and as long as necessary to generate sufficient stability for maximum wind range.